Dairy Free, Gluten Free Key Lime Pie

One of our favorite holiday desserts is this pie. I buy fresh key limes in season and then feeze them in 1/2 cup portions. I am sure commercially frozen key lime juice would work as well.

Gluten and Dairy Free Key Lime Pie

1/2 cup key lime juice
1 can coconut creme (we like roland brand best but we have tried several and they have all worked)
1 package plain gelatin
3 egg yolks
1 premade pie shell (We use the cookie crust from November 2 blog)

Preheat oven to 300.
Put coconut creme in a glass bowl and warm in the microwave until hot but not boiling. Add the gelatin to the coconut creme and mix thoroughly. Using a hand blender or mixer, blend in the lime juice. Blend in the egg yolks last. Pour into a premade pie shell and put in the oven. Cook for 40-45 minutes. Cool on a cooling rack 30 minutes and then refridgerate until set.

Orange Cranberry Sauce

Orange Cranberry Sauce

My kids are huge fans of cranberry sauce but I hate all the sugar. This recipe reduces the sugar some while adding another flavor that keeps it from being too tart.

2 oranges, peeled and seeded

1 bag of cranberries, preferably organic, rinsed

1 cup orange juice

2/3 cup sugar

Throw the oranges and cranberries in the food processor and chop until uniform. Put all ingredients in a small stainless steel saucepan and heat on medium until the mixture is a deep purple red and sticky. The consistency will be similar to commercial whole berry cranberry sauce.

Gluten free Poultry Stuffing

The holidays are here and we have had one turkey and will be having number 2 on Christmas. My family loves stuffing. It is their favorite part of a turkey dinner. I think part of the reason is that it is the traditional stuffing my mother made when I was a kid, only adjusted for the diet. The most difficult part is that I make the pork sausage from scratch because we have been able to find an aceptable gluten free alternative that tastes right for this application.

For the sausage

1 1/2 lb. organic ground pork

organic palm oil

Bell's poultry seasoning

I use the meat grinder attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer to grind together the ground pork with about 25% by volume palm oil, adding poultry seasoning until it is a universal light grey color smelling faintly of sage. I usually have to run it through the grinder twice to accomplish this. The original recipe I followed was from The Joy of Cooking and called for lard. Since I was unable to find organic lard, and lard was just horrid to work with and clean up, I tried palm oil this year and it worked out fine.

Gluten free Poultry Stuffing

1 1/2-2 lb GF sagey pork sausage

1 small loaf white gf bread (about 2/3 a loaf of our no-fail gf bread, or 1 loaf Kinnikkinnik white)

1 small loaf brown gf bread ( 1 loaf Washburn and Butts brown or 1 loaf Kinnikkinnik brown)

1 large onion or 2 small onions chopped

2 eggs

2 cups chicken or turkey broth

salt

pepper

Bell's poultry seasoning

The bread works best if it is stale, but you can cube the bread and dry it in a 250 oven for 40 minuts, turning halfway through. After the bread is cubed and ready, mix bread, eggs, sausage , and onion together. Add about 1-2 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper and enough poultry seasoning so that the stuffing smells sagey. Knead it all together using enough broth warmed in the microwave to get a good sticky texture. The goal is for the cubes to maintain some structural integrity. You are not looking for a paste. You can stuff it in your bird to cook, or put in a baking pan in a 350 oven, pouring the rest of the broth over the top, covering with foil and baking for 1-1 1/2hours until done, adding broth as needed to keep it moist. My kids love this with lots of cranberry sauce.

Dairy Free Pumpkin Pie

Fall is here and that means pumpkin pie to my guys. I spent a lot of time last fall getting this right and with the cookie crust this is a success.

Dairy Free Pumpkin Pie

3/4 C granulated sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp cloves

2 large eggs

1 15 oz. can pumpkin, or 1 1/2 C fresh pumpkin

1 can coconut milk, warmed and blended with 1/8 C dried coconut cream

1 cookie pie crust

Preheat oven to 425. Mix together sugar and spices. In a separate bowl beat the eggs. Add pumpkin and mix thoroughly. Gradually stir in coconut milk. Pour in pie shell. bake at 425 for 15 minutes then reduce the heat and bake at 350 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a cooling rack. Refrigerate if not serving immediately. My kids like it cold best anyway. Enjoy.

Basic Cookie Recipe / Cookie Pie Crust

The holidays are coming and growing up in my family that meant PIE and lots of it. I have struggled for a decent pie crust and have not found anything that worked like regular roll out pie crust. What I have come up with is a cookie crust that works well for most pies. I can use it for pumpkin or key lime (2 favorites here), or with apple or blueberry if I add a crumb topping. So, in preparation for the holiday season this week I made cookie pie crusts to freeze to be ready when I need them. The basic cookie recipe I use was published in the United Buying Clubs Catalog last fall and is useful for many types of cookies. This recipe makes quite a large batch(I got 8 pie crusts and 3 pans of cookies out of it) but it can be split easily.

Basic Cookie Recipe/Cookie Pie Crust

3 C powdered sugar

2 C granulated sugar

2 C shortening- we use palm oil

6 eggs- we use Pete and Gerry's Organic exclusively-why is another story

1 Tbsp salt

1/4 C vanilla extract

1 C amaranth flour

2 C potato starch

2 C sweet rice flour

4 C brown rice flour

2 Tbsp xanthan gum

3 Tbsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 325. In a large bowl mix together the flours, potato starch, xanthan gum and baking powder. In your largest bowl cream together the sugars and shortening. Add the eggs, vanilla and salt. Mix together until well blended. Add the flour mixture about 1/4 at time stirring vigorously. At the end you will likely have to knead in the last portion. It should be about the consistency of Play-doh. If too dry, add 1 Tbsp of water at a time until it is the right consistency. The original recipe said to use an ungreased cookie sheet but I find that a thin coating of spray oil makes everything go more smoothly particularly as you will be using the cookie pans multiple times.

For Pie Crusts

Spray oil your pie pans. Take a smallish baseball sized ball and put it in the center of each pan. push the dough out toward the sides and edges creating a thin layer of cookie dough. Since the dough rises some during baking it is not necessary that it be thick, in fact that is undesireable. remove any excess that gets worked over the edge. For a more finished looking edge roll small bits of dough into "snakes" to lay along the edge and blend in. When the crust is complete, prick the bottom with a fork across the surface and bake for about 15 minutes. It should be a light golden brown, darker if you will be using it for an unbaked filling. Cool on a cooling rack completely and fill or freeze for future use.

For Thumbprint Cookies

Spray oil a cookie sheet or minimuffin pan. We use minimuffin pans because they make for a nice deep well in the bottom and we don't have to worry about filling spilling out. Make a 1" ball and push your thumb in to create a well in the center. In the minimuffin pan push the dough up the sides to create a little cup. If you are using jam to fill these you can add that now or you can wait and fill them when they are cooked and cool. We like to fill the cooked ones with a chocolate coconut ganache or with homemade peanut butter cups(those don't last very long here.) I will post that recipe in a couple of days but if you want to be able to make the peanut butter cups you need to cook some of the cookie dough as crumbs. I usually cook about 1C that way then freeze whatever I don't use for toppings, etc.

Basic Chicken Stock

Basic Chicken Stock

Almost all of the broth we use is our own homemade chicken stock we make based on the recipe in Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. Here is our method. We buy mostly natural chickens and definitely only use natural chicken for chicken stock. Generally speaking we use a table top roaster oven to roast chickens, usually 2-3 at a time (natural chickens are generally smaller that the hormone fed behemoths in the grocery store.) This is also helpful because it does not tie up the stove with the long broth cooking process. After the meal is over, the chicken bones are returned to the roaster oven. We throw all the skins out as skins are where a lot of the environmental toxins end up. We fill the roaster 2/3- 3/4 full with water (you will need more to cover a turkey carcass.) Add 1 large or 2 small onions, several organic carrots, several stalks of celery and a couple of tablespoons cider vinegar. Bring to a boil and remove the scum that rises up to the top. Cover and simmer for 12-24 hours. The longer you cook it the richer the flavor. When you are done cooking, strain the stock and remove the solids. Return stock to roaster and boil off liquid to concentrate broth in order to make it easier to store. The last step is to add a bunch of fresh parsley for the last 5 minutes of cooking, then remove before cooling. In the winter I put the stock pot part outside in the cold to cool until the fat solidifies and can be skimmed off. We freeze this in 1 and 2 cup containers, planning on a 2:1 ratio of bought broth to homemade for a recipe. Why go to all of this trouble? "Properly prepared meat stocks are extremely nutritious, containing the minerals of bone, cartilage, marrow, and vegetables as electrolytes, and hence in easily assimilated form. ... Stock is also of great value because it supplies hydrophilic colloids to the diet. ... Although gelatin is by means a complete protein, ... it acts as a protein sparer, allowing the body to more fully utilize the complete proteins that are taken in. " Nourishing Traditions, p.107.

Dairy Free Vegetable Chowder

Dairy Free Vegetable Chowder

Everyone is still sick here but I have another soup success story to post. Both my older sons (8 and 6) chose a second bowl of chowder over eggs to complete their meal.

This is adapted from original revised Moosewood Cookbook.

1 Tbsp. margarine

2 C chopped onions(any of these dairy free chowders need really sharp, cry producing onions to counter the sweetness of the milk substitutes)

6 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. thyme

2 tsp.basil

1 medium potato, peeled and diced

3 medium stalks celery, diced

3 medium carrots, diced

2 C chopped broccoli (I used frozen)

2 C chopped cauliflower (again, I used frozen)

1/2 lb. mushrooms, chopped

2 cup corn (again frozen)

freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 C water

4 cups hot water to mix with

1 1/4C Darifree potato milk powder

1 cup coconut milk

Melt the margarine in a dutch oven or other soup pot. Add onion, garlic, and spices.

Saute on medium about 5 minutes.

Add potato, celery,carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower. Saute for another 5 to 8 min. Add mushrooms and corn and a generous amount of black pepper. Saute another 8-10 min.

Add water and half of potato milk, cover and simmer 15 min.making sure potatoes are cooked through.

Add the rest of the potato milk and coconut milk. Remove from heat and rewarm just prior to serving.

Gluten Free Flour Mix

Gluten Free Flour Mix

Any number of basic mixes work well. Here is the one that we use.

1/2 C Gram flour (Indian yellow pea flour)- We use the Swad brand

3/4 C brown rice flour

3/4 C garfava flour

2/3 C potato starch

1/3 C tapioca flour

I mix it all up and keep it ready for when I need it.

Yummy Good for You Chocolate Chip Cookies- Egg Free

If you have been gluten free for a while you know that making a good gluten free chocolate chip cookie is not as easy as it seems it should be. I have adapted a recipe from this month's Vegetarian Times magazine and the results are some of the best we have gotten, with the added bonus of being loaded with all kinds of vitamins, minerals, and good fats. I think this would make a great breakfast cookie if you left out the chocolate chips and added raisins or other dried fruit as well as whole nuts such as pecans.

Yummy Good for You Chocolate Chip Cookies- Egg Free

2 C walnuts

3 Tbsp canola oil

1 C light brown sugar

1/2 C water

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 c gluten free flour mix( you can use premixed bought stuff here or mix you own- I will put our formula in a separate post)

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (optional- I don't happen to like cinnamon with my chocolate chip cookies but given the oaty type texture I see where you might like it)

2 C quinoa flakes

about 10 oz. dark chocolate- chips or broken bars

Preheat oven to 350

Spray oil on 1 cookie sheet. *Somewhere along the line we learned that patience is a particular virtue for GF cookie baking. Some recipes the cookies did not hold together properly or went to dust if not baked in the center of the oven. As a result we bake one sheet at a time on the center rack.

Place walnuts in a food processor and process until they are a pasty consistency. Add oil and process 2-3 minutes more. It should look like a natural nut butter. Move to a hat resistant bowl.

Mix brown sugar together with water in a small sauce pan using a wire whisk. Bring to a boil. Once done, pour it over walnut paste. Add vanilla and mix until smooth.

Mix the GF mix, salt, baking soda and cinnamon in a separate bowl.

Add to walnut mixture. make sure dough is cool before moving on to the next step.

Fold in quinoa flakes. Fold in chocolate.

Form into small balls and place on cookie sheet. Flatten with a wet glass.

Bake 9-12 minutes. They are done when they are golden brown. Cool 2-3 minutes on cookie sheet before removing to cooling rack.

Gluten free, Dairy free Pumpkin Pasta

Everybody here has been sick all week so we have tender tummies and picky eaters. I was running out of supernutricious comfort style food that is totally sugar free. (Why my kids are on a month-long sugar fast is another story.) I saw a recipe for pumpkin pasta in Parents magazine this month so I thought I would try a conversion. It turned out delicious, was a huge hit with the kids and is easy on the tummy. Here is the result.

Gluten Free, Dairy Free Pumpkin Pasta

1 1lb. bag Tinkyada brown rice penne

1 Tbs olive oil

1 shallot, minced

1 1/2 c chicken broth(we make our own here)

3/4 cup canned coconut milk

1 15 oz. canned pumpkin (we actually cook fresh pumpkins about this time of year and freeze in 1 1/2c bags)

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 Tbsp potato starch

Darifree powdered potato based milk for topping

Cook pasta according to package directions. It is important to follow them exactly. I have tried omitting or lowering the salt but the results are not pleasant. It is also important to fully rinse the pasta after boiling. That said, Tinkyada makes the best GF pasta out there in my experience. It is a decent substitute for the real thing.

While that is cooking, in a medium saucepan heat the oil and add the shallots, cooking until tender(less than 5 min.) Add coconut milk and cook off a little of the liquid(the original recipe called for 1/2 c evaporated milk.) Add broth, pumpkin, and spices and bring to a boil. Dip out 1/2 c of the liquid to a small bowl. Add potato starch to the bowl and stir to make sure it is lump free. Once sauce is boiling reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for about 4 minutes. As soon as the potato starch is ready, add that stirring constantly.

Once pasta and sauce are both done, toss pasta with sauce and serve. Top with a sprinkling of Darifree powder and allow to sit a minute for a cheesy look and a little cheesier flavor. Makes 6 cups.

Spaghetti Sauce

We have a hard time buying GF,DF, SF, spaghetti sauce with no corn syrup involved so we make our own in large batches and freeze containers sized for the things we cook. My kids love spaghetti and meatballs. It is a lot easier to do this if we make the sauce and meatballs in large batches and freeze them packed in meal sized bags. The original recipe is from Karen Younger in Ledyard, CT. I have made a few small changes.

Spaghetti Sauce

2 large cans(~16 oz.) tomato puree

1 large can stewed tomatoes (~20 oz.)

3 small cans tomato sauce(~8 oz.)

3 small cans tomato paste (~6 oz.)

1/2 cup parsley flakes

1/2 cup dried sweet basil

3-4 Tbsp dried oregano

4-5 cloves garlic crushed

1 small onion chopped

1/4 tsp dried fennel

1 package gluten free, dairy free italian sausage ( We have used chicken and pork sausages but the best results we have had are from pork sausage. We loved Framani sausage we got at Whole Foods but now we use another brand they carry since they don't have it any more.) All the brands we have found are precooked so we dice the precooked sausage.

salt and pepper to taste

3-4 Tbsp olive oil

Saute diced sausage, onions and garlic in olive oil. Once vegetables are soft add spices. Cook another 2-3 min. Transfer to slow cooker and add all other ingredients. Cook on low 5-6 hrs. This can be done on the stove by simmering in a large pot.

Chicken Curry

There are a few standard things we have almost weekly and this curry is one of them. It is one of the comfort foods for my clan. We started out with no red pepper involved and lots of fruit, gradually increasing the spiciness and bringing the fruit into balance with the meat.

Chicken Curry

1 small onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic crushed

slightly less than 1/4 cup canola oil

1 Tbsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground tumeric

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp red pepper(optional)

1- 2" long cinnamon stick

3 lb chicken cut in bite sized pieces (we use boneless chicken thighs)

3 tsp salt

3/4 cup water

1 tsp lemon juice

Misc. fruit (the standard for us is 2 granny smith apples and 1/2 cup golden raisins)

In a large deep skillet saute the garlic and onions and garlic in the canola oil. While that is cooking, toast the spices in your toaster oven. be careful because unattended they will in fact burst into flame. Once you start to really smell them it is time to turn the heat off. Add spices to the onions etc. and cook 3-4 min.

Rub chicken pieces with 2 tsp of salt. Add to spice mixture. Brown 10 min.cooking on all sides. Add water and remaining salt. Add fruit of choice.

Cover and cook 50 min. until chicken is tender and sauce begins to thicken. remove cover the last 5 min. Add lemon juice just before serving.

We serve ours with short grained brown rice.

We have also used mangoes or regular raisins for fruits here and the mangoes were spectacular.

Dairy Free Cream of Celery Soup

It's cold and flu season and time for soup and vegetables. Here is the first of what will be many. different soups I'm sure. This is loosely based on a Moosewood classic. It is no longer vegetarian, no longer dairy based.

Dairy Free Cream Of Celery Soup

2 fist sized potatoes, peeled and diced

4 cups chopped celery( plus one more minced finely, preferably from the interior stalks)

3 cups chicken broth(we make our own- more on that later)

1 1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp margarine- we use kosher for passover types that are soy free

1 heaping cup minced onion

1 tsp celery seed

1 cup warm water

2/3 cup darifree potato milk powder

black pepper to taste

4 oz. so delicious coconut milk based yogurt

Put potatoes, chopped celery, broth and 11/4 tsp salt in suacepan to boil. Bring to a boil and then turn to simmer. Simmer covered 15 min. when vegetables are soft puree.

Melt margarine in soup kettle add onion, minced celery, celery seed and 1/2 tsp salt. Saute for 8-10 min. When vegetables are tender add puree. Stir together warm water and Darifree powder. Make sure to get rid of any lumps. Add to soup. Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat gently to warm through, stirring carefully to blend in yogurt. Top with freshly ground black pepper.

This was a huge hit with my boys who have colds, and best of all, no mucus inducing effects from the cream soup.

Mild Corn Salsa

We had a birthday party here today and I had several requests for this recipe, children and adults all doing the requesting.

Mild Corn Salsa

1/2 a medium red onion diced

2-4 jalapeno peppers diced, depending on size and desired favor.(2 is quite mild, 4 has a little heat.)

Kernels from 4 ears of corn, cooked or raw is fine

1/2 a bell pepper chopped, (yellow adds a beautiful color)

juice of 3 small or 1 large lime

4 tomatillos husked, cored and chopped

3-4 tbsp water

In a medium saucepan over medium heat cook the onions, jalapenos, water and corn until the jalapenos are soft and onions translucent. Add lime juice and bell pepper, bring to a boil, then cover, turn down and simmer 5 minutes more. Cool completely in the fridge. Serve with tortilla chips. The traditional type such as Garcia's brand are nice and strong to hold lots of salsa.

Sugar Free Pumpkin Muffins

This is a yummy recipe my sons helped create. It has no sugar, using agave nectar for the sweetener so it has a low glycemic effect. Using sorghum and garfava flours as well as flax seed these are very nutritious. This also uses Donna Washburn and Heather Butts' technique of using of using heavier flours but letting the batter stand for 30 minutes to soften the grains.

Sugar Free Pumpkin Muffins

1/2 cup sorghum flour

1/2 cup garfava flour

1/4 cup tapioca starch

1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup chopped dates(be sure that the dates are not floured)

1/4 cup flax seed

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

2 eggs

1 cup prepared pumpkin canned or fresh

1/3 cup canola oil

1 tsp cider vinegar

1/2 cup agave nectar

Spray oil in a 12 cup muffin pan.

In a large bowl combine the sorghum flour, garfava flour, xanthan gum, salt, dates, seeds, baking powder,baking soda, and spices. Mix well.

In separate bowl mix liquid ingredients.

Add wet to dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Full muffin cups with batter, dividing evenly. Let batter stand 30 minutes in pan and preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Bake 20-22 minutes until muffin springs back when touched and toothpick comes out clean.

Remove muffins from pan to cooling rack and let cool completely.

Dairy Free Seafood Chowder

About Milk Substitutes

Once you decide to go dairy free you are confronted with a huge variety of choices for alternatives. As you start to cook dairy free you discover that no one milk substitute is the right choice for everything. If I look in our fridge I will find 5 different types of milk all of the time and various others at other times. My kids drink almond milk(based on taste alone), a mix of 3/4 unsweetened chocolate and 1/4 sweetened original. I drink vanilla hemp milk, and we cook most often with vanilla or plain rice milk. Also in my cabinet I have canned and dried coconut milk, and dried potato milk(darifree) as well as canned coconut cream. As you cook you find that different milks lend themselves to different recipes or tastes better. That is the case with the Darifree potato milk we use here and for most cream soups.

Dairy Free Seafood Chowder

This recipe was part of a quest for summer comfort food. Growing up in New England we ate clam chowder all year long but in the summer my brothers dove for fresh clams and the chowder was the best. Here I have recaptured the essence the tastes in a form we all can eat.

1 lb. scallops, I usually use bay scallops. If you use sea scallops you will have to chop them.

1 lb. shrimp, cleaned, all shells removed but raw

1 lb. firm white fish, cubed, I have used haddock and cod

2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed

4 cups water

2 vegetarian boullion cubes(each makes 2 cups)

1 large yellow onion minced(it is important to use a sharp yellow onion. Others tend to leave the chowder too sweet.)

4 large stalks celery minced

2/3 cup darifree potato milk powder

1 bay leaf

1 tsp thyme

2 tsp dried parsley

2 tbsp canola oil

In a large stock pot cook the onions and celery in canola oil until onions are translucent. Add the water, bay leaf, boullion cubes and potatoes. Boil until the potatoes are just starting to soften. Remove 1 cup liquid to mix with potato milk powder. Turn down to simmer, add all the seafood, spices and potato milk. Cook until shrimp turns just pink. This got rave reviews here and from all who sampled it. Enjoy!

Chicken Fricasee

Chicken Fricassee

This one was a favorite from childhood that I found myself craving this year while I was pregnant. It is now a Padgett family favorite and was just devoured by all at a Padgett/Dickerson dinner. This version is for a family of 4 but can be easily doubled with no difference in taste.

1 4+ lb fryer chicken

1 large onion

4 large stalks celery with leaves

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 cups water

1/4 cup allergy free foods expandex modified tapioca starch( this stuff is the no-fail sauce thickener, no more waiting to see if it will thicken, no more funny taste because you had to keep adding to get it right, and no corn)

Cut the chicken in parts, removing skin and as much fat as practicable. Put chicken and chopped celery and onion in a large stock pot with water, salt and pepper. bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer 45 min. Or until chicken is tender and easy to remove from bones. Pull out the meat and set aside to cool. Skim as much fat as possible from the broth. strain vegetables out and save. measure broth and add water until you have 4 cups of liquid. press vegetables through a strainer into broth. remove about 1/2 cup of the liquid to a small bowl and add tapioca starch. whisk together until completely mixed. Bring the rest of the broth to a boil and as soon as boiling add the tapioca mixture. It should thicken up immediately. As soon as it is reasonably thick shut the heat off and cover. Pull all of the chicken from the bones and add to broth mixture, being sure to pick it over carefully to get all of the bones and yucky bits. When I was a child we served this over mashed potatoes which is still the favorite here but we have also found it works quite well over cooked brown rice( we always use short grain brown rice) when I don't have time to make potatoes as well.

Peanut Butter Fingers

About Oats

As I understand it conventional oats are grown in crop rotations with wheat which means that the principle weed on an oat year is wheat. A certain amount of cross contamination is inevitable. How much ends up in the milled oats can vary widely. Gluten free oats have recently become available. If you are gluten free and going to use oats that is the type you should use. Chemically, the principle protein in oats is very similar to gluten, and my children are so allergic to gluten it takes months to get their systems back to normal after an exposure that we just don't take the chance of it causing a problem. It helps that we have found a workable substitute. We have found that quinoa flakes work well particularly in place of quick oats. The following recipe is one of the old favorites from my childhood converted to be gluten, dairy and soy free but still delicious. Beth P.

Peanut Butter Fingers

1/2 cup margarine( we use Eden passover margarine)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/3 cup peanut butter

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup Bob's all purpose baking mix

1 tsp xanthan gum

1 cup quinoa flakes

1cup semisweet chocolate bits

for glaze

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2-4 Tbsp rice milk

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 13" x 9" pan. Cream sugars with margarine. Mix in egg, peanut butter, salt, and baking soda. When well mixed add baking mix and quinoa flakes. Mix all together. Press mixture into pan bake 20-15 min. until light brown. Melt chocolate and spread in pan. Let cool until hard. Mix glaze ingredients together and drizzle over chocolate topped bars. Let harden and cut. These are just as yummy as I remember.

Dairy Free Ranch Dressing

Kids and Vegetables

As a mom I am always looking for ways to make the vegetables go faster and easier. I had been on the lookout for a dipping sauce for a while when simultaneously we came upon 2 solutions. Shortly after Passover we found Manischewitz Creamy Thousand Island salad dressing. We love passover because things that are kosher for Passover are often gluten, dairy and soy free. The second item we found that made so many things easier is the So Delicious cultured coconut milk based yogurt product. Now we have the ingredients for homemade ranch dressing. The resulting product was a huge hit and is in constant demand here. It even helps asparagus go down with few complaints.

Dairy, Soy and Gluten Free Ranch Dressing

1 tsp dried parsley

3/4 tsp black pepper

1 tsp celery salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/8 tsp dried thyme

6 oz. So Delicious plain cultured coconut milk yogurt

1 tsp cider vinegar

approximately 1/2 cup plain rice milk

1/2 cup GF,SF, DF mayonnaise(we usually use Manischewitz passover mayonnaise)

Mix dry ingredients together in a small bowl. In a separate container mix together wet ingredients using the amount of rice milk to control the thickness of the dressing. My kids like it really thick for dipping but we thin it for use as actual salad dressing.

About the Recipes- Beth P.

Allergy Free Kitchen

Now that I have a few recipes posted I should talk about the whole allergy free kitchen we run here. Since my older sons have severe food allergies, here in the Padgett household we have separate toasters for gluten free breads and not and use most pans for allergy free cooking only. Since my pregnancy with son #3 began last June I have been eating on the diet as well and that just leaves my husband eating all the allergens. He cooks his own breakfasts and lunches during the week and has little time in the kitchen that we have to worry about. There is a separate bin for allergen containing food. (It would be a cabinet if we had the space.)

About the Recipes

I basically have never met a recipe I didn't want to change. I might use an unfamiliar recipe exactly as written once but after that there is a continuing evolution. I might run out of a certain type of flour, I might just want a different flavor or one of the kids might distract me in the middle of something leaving me to make changes on the fly. Generally speaking I use electric stuff as little as possible. The two most used items in my kitchen are my hand whisk and a plastic spoon shaped like an old fashioned wooden spoon. It is easier to clean and since son #2 has developed a mild allergy to peanuts I like to know I am not contaminating the things I feed him. If I post a recipe and say to use an electric mixer it is necessary to the process. I have a beautiful Kitchenaid that sits idle most of the time here because my grandmother taught me to do it by hand.

In terms of the recipes I am trying to achieve as much of a normal American life here as possible. Although my older boys had their diets changed at ages 4 and 2 respectively and as a result remember very few of the tastes from before, they do not live in a bubble. They see what their friends are eating and what is available to eat at restaurants and wish to participate. I don't blame them. Food was also a big deal in our house growing up and I want to share all of the tastes from my childhood with them. I am not a foodie by any means. This is basic American fare and heavy on the baking. Some of that is because so much of our culture's food is wheat and soy based baked goods.

Maine Wild Blueberry Syrup

It is Sunday here at the Padgett house and that means WAFFLES! Since we just got back from Maine last Sunday I thought we would recapture a little of the flavor we are missing by taking those berries I froze and making them into syrup for our waffles. This recipe is simple, low glycemic and yummy. One batch made enough for all four of us who were eating waffles.

Maine Wild Blueberry Syrup

1 1/2 cup maine low bush blueberries ( I expect you could use canned or commercially frozen blueberries as well. The original recipe I modified called for canned blueberries.)

1/2 cup agave nectar( we use whole foods 365 brand raw nectar)

1/2 tsp lemon juice

dash salt

dash cinnamon( a little more if you really want to taste the cinnamon, the agave flavor overshadows it a fair bit)

1 Tbsp constarch

Combine all ingredients except cornstarch in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once the blueberries are a little watery remove about 1Tbsp liquid to a small bowl and combine with the cornstarch. Add resulting liquid back to pan. Once syrup boils remove the pan from heat. This can be served hot or cold. It was a big hit here.

No Fail Gluten Free Bread

Are you looking for a recipe that you can put in the bread machine and forget about, knowing that when it is done the bread will be tasty for everyone in the family, not just your gluten free crowd? Does it need to be gluten, dairy and soy free? Here is a recipe that tastes good, performs like regular bread, does not turn to a rock or dust in 24 hours, doesn't need to be refridgerated, and on day 2 still tastes great or makes great french toast. We have even sliced it and frozen the loaf in 2 slice packges so we can make sandwiches anytime by just thawing it in the microwave. The best part is that the recipe is reasonably forgiving. I have an absent minded tendency to forget the salt or lose my place and it still turns out workable.
This recipe uses yellow pea flour which is an Indian staple as one of the flours. It is this flour which really gives it the flexibility that lasts for several days. We use the SWAD brand that we get at a local Asian grocer. I know that Whole Foods carries it as well. If it is very humid and the flour is lumpy it has to be sifted because otherwise you get hard little lumps in the loaf. We use a bread machine to do the work for us. Although we have the cuisineart that has the special gluten free cycle but we use the rapid white cycle for this bread.

No Fail Gluten Free Bread

(dairy and soy free)

Dry ingredients:

1 cup white rice flour

1 cup yellow pea flour(SWAD) also called gram flour

2/3 cup potato starch

1/3 cup tapioca starch

1/4 cup white sugar(this works well with a direct substitution of honey as well)

1 Tbsp xanthan gum

1 scant Tbsp yeast (we use saf instant- we get a large cake at the health food store. We have used the jarred bread machine yeast from the grocery which works ok but increase to a whole Tbsp. For best result we use saf instant. The yeast really makes a difference.)

1 1/2 tsp salt

Wet ingredients

1 1/2-2 cups warmed plain rice milk (we warm ours up in the microwave for just 45 seconds or so)

2 tsp cider vinegar

1/4 vegetable oil (we use organic canola)

2 eggs

2 egg whites

Step 1

Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk them together. If you are using honey, put it in with the wet ingredients.

Step 2

In the bread machine bowl combine all of the wet ingredients using just 1 1/2 cup rice milk to start.

Step 3

Start the bread machine using the rapid white or equivalent cycle. Once the liquid ingredients are mixed slowly add the dry ingredients using a rubber scraper to assist in the mixing. Our machine makes a horizontal loaf and since the gluten free dough ends up the consistency of thick cake batter the material in the ends needs mixing in by hand. The goal is a thick cake batter type of dough. Add as much of the extra rice milk as necessary to reach that consistency. How much milk you will need depends on any number of things including the current humidity. Once all of the ingredients are well mixed you just close the bread machine and walk away. Once all of the dough cycles are completed you can remove the kneeading paddle if you like but we rarely bother.

Step 4

Once the bread machine has completed the baking cycle remove the bread to a cooling rack. It is important to let it cool to get the largest number of slices per loaf. It is however really yummy straight away.